A Mild Food Consumption Reduction May Slow Kidney Disease

HealthDay News — A mild reduction in food intake seems to slow autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in a mouse model, according to an experimental study published online January 13 in the American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology.

Noting that mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which is aberrantly activated in renal cysts, is known to be regulated by nutrients and cellular energy status, Kevin R. Kipp, from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and colleagues examined whether dietary restriction would affect renal cyst growth. The study was conducted in an orthologous mouse model of ADPKD with a mosaic conditional knockout of PKD1.

The researchers found that reduced food intake (RFI) by 23% had a profound effect on polycystic kidneys. This level of RFI had no effect on normal body weight gain, did not cause malnutrition, and was not associated with other apparent side effects. There was a substantial slowing of disease progression with RFI: relative kidney weight increase was 41%, versus 151% in controls, and cyst-lining cell proliferation was 7.7%, versus 15.9% in controls. Kidney function was maintained by mice on RFI diet, and they did not progress to end-stage renal disease. RFI was associated with suppression of two major branches of mTORC1 signaling: S6 and 4EBP1.